Why become an Interim?
Recent headlines declare 'Demand for interim managers outstripping supply' in support of the current positive market in the UK and beyond for Interim Managers. Factors which are driving this are:
- the growing confidence held by businesses that they can rely on finding high quality, 'just in time' supply from this very unstructured talent pool;
- commercial and change pressures on organisations across all sectors demanding immediate short term action;
- the economics and simplicity of bringing a senior executive in for a short period of time to achieve a clearly defined goal.
The precise figures for this sector are hard to establish but it is estimated that there are about 10,000 senior executives who are actively involved in interim management at this time. Interim Managers normally earn more as an independent; average earnings would be £100,000 per annum, remembering that from this there will be business and marketing expenses. This amounts to a £1 billion and growing industry which delivers so much excutive talent into UK Plcs.
In many cases an interim role supports the increasing acceptance of the portfolio career, moving from a permanent to an interim and then back to permanent. In principal each move should go towards building a career and a track record which exudes success. It is said that, as an interim, where there is always the demand for performance, you are only as good as your last project!
The characteristics of the career interim do differ:
- Sense of independence – yet the career interim has the ability to fit quickly into an executive team
- Recognition of the lifestyle – after months in a role there is a period of business development
- Masters in their craft – that inner confidence in career achievements and personal capabilities to find and win business in new challenging projects
- Business development skills – some 70% of interim business is developed by individuals networking – networking skills are therefore important
It takes very little time to establish yourself as a limited company with professional indemnity cover and a top quality, high impact CV. You will also need the technology to support this marketing effort such as a contact database, email with associated hardware and broadband connection.